The 3rd Annual Regional Training against Illegal Trade and Customs Defraudation was held in San Salvador, El Salvador on April 25 and 26, 2018. There, Belize was represented by Sr. Spt. Howell Gillett, Commander of Eastern Division. Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and the United States of America also had representation at the training which was sponsored by Crime Stoppers.

Law enforcement officials were exposed to best practices in dealing with smuggling and counterfeit trademarks based on information from representatives of different brands affected by illegal trade. They were also trained on tools used to recognize contraband and counterfeit products, trained on research techniques from real cases, and trained to promote a networking space among the participants with the idea of building personal ties to work together from the information received at Crime Stoppers.

According to Sr. Spt. Gillett, “It is safe to say that the region is safer with the network that has been forged among member countries.”